Microwave energy has in the past been used to provide heat. The most widely known usage of microwave energy is the microwave oven. Microwave energy is clean and efficient. With microwave heat, no heat is lost in flue gases as none exist. An efficient heater utilizing microwave energy for use in both commercial buildings and in residential structures would result in reduced fuel consumption by use of a clean heating system that is comparatively economical.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,052 (Edward J. Krapf), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a microwave heat pipe heating system which consists of at least one sealed heat pipe having self contained water therein. The heat pipe extends from a microwave containment enclosure into a domestic hot water tank. The self contained water heated by microwave beams will cause the sealed heat pipe extending into the domestic hot water tank to heat water therein for use in a normal water circulation system. In an alternate embodiment a microwave permeable pipe extends through two opposite walls of a microwave containment enclosure for conveying water capable of being heating by microwave beams. The pipe is divided into smaller pipes after entering through one of the walls and reconvening before exiting through other of the walls of the microwave containment enclosure to expose more water surface area to the microwave beams to enhance the heating efficiency of the microwave beams.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,064,047 (Daniel R. Izzo), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a microwave hot water boiler heating system which includes a water tank with a water boiler circulator and a water refill valve and a water drain valve and a cooled water pipe that comes from the steam cooling chamber. A vacuum pump is employed to depressurize the boiler tank and vacuum pump the steam that is produced by the heated water that was heated by the microwaves coming directly from the magnetron maser. Vacuum pumping the steam from the microwave boiler heating area prevents the pressurization of steam that would damage the machine's magnetron maser. The vacuum pump also will, by its force, draw in air from the boiler tank's air inlet/overflow valve and by its force contain and compress the steam inside of the machine's steam chamber. Both, the water boiler tank and the steam chamber shall have a closed loop of coiled piping that will transfer heat to a room radiator heat exchanger. The closed loop of piping shall be filled with circulating water that is circulated by a circulator pump. Inside of the steam chamber shall be pressure reducing valves that allow for the release of either cooled water or steam. The machine's microwave emitting magnetron maser will operate upon command by a room air temperature sensor/thermostat.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,858,824 (Alfred Monteleone and Brian Weit), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a microwave heating system is provided which uses a heat conductive medium. The heat conductive medium is heated in a heater. The heater includes a shell which forms an enclosure. The enclosure has an upper end and a lower end. A heating coil is located in the enclosure. The heating coil has an upper end and a lower end and has an inverted frusto-conical shape. The upper end of the heating coil is larger than the lower end. Three magnetrons are mounted adjacent the heating coil. One magnetron is located at the upper end of the heating coil and the other two magnetrons are located on opposite sides of the heating coil for directing microwave energy into the heating coil. An electrical distribution system is connected to the magnetron. A return line supplies the heat conductive medium into the heating coil adjacent the lower end of the shell. The heat conductive medium is fed through a feed line to a storage tank and into a two-stage domestic hot water heater. The heat conductive medium then flows back to the hater through the return line. A circulator is located in the return line.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,002,121 (Alfred Monteleone and Brian Weit), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a steam generator is located within a tank. At one end of the tank there is a flange. Mounted on the outside of the flange there is a magnetron that is cooled by a fan surrounding the magnetron. A heat tube extends from the magnetron into the tank. Within the heat tube there is a block of silicon carbide which has a passageway through it. The magnetron fires microwave energy down the passageway heating the block of silicon carbide and the heat tube. Water tubes about the inside surface of the tank spray a mist of water on the heat tube to produce steam which is removed by a steam line through ports at the opposite end of the tank from the magnetron. The steam may be used for many purposes but in a vehicle it may be injected into the cylinders of a four stroke internal combustion engine through the openings for the spark plugs. Make up water is collected from the dehumidifier. Water is recovered from the crankcase by a float system, and returned to the storage container.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,148,457 (William B. Cotten, et al.), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a microwave water heating system includes a metal casing having an outer wall defining an interior casing chamber. An inner housing is positioned within the casing and includes an outer wall displaced from the casing outer wall to form an insulating vacuum space. The inner housing includes an inlet port connected to an upstream water source and an outlet port connected to a downstream conduit. The casing and inner housing include generally spherical configurations. The inner housing is configured to induce a vortex of a water stream flowing between inlet and outlet ports. At least one magnetron is mounted to the casing for transmitting microwaves into the inner housing for heating the water stream at the vortex. A float valve in the inner housing allows the water stream to flow and be heated upon demand as the valve operates according to upstream and downstream pressure differentials.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,119,312 (Steven R. Sedlmayr), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a microwave energy emitter (108) which is positioned in a microwave transparent chamber (123) within a fluid holding vessel (106) of a microwave containment vessel (122). The fluid holding vessel (106) may be transparent to microwave energy and is further provided with a microwave reflective component outward, on, or beyond an exterior surface (121) of the wall of the fluid holding vessel (106). The microwave reflective component reflects microwaves back into the fluid holding vessel (106). The fluid holding vessel (106) encloses a material that absorbs microwave energy. An inlet path (116) and outlet path (112) is provided for material to flow in and out of the holding vessel upon predetermined conditions. Heated material can be condensed via a condenser (124) into a collection vessel (120). A controller (126) is provided to send control signals to a switching device (100) for controlling the material flow and receiving sensing signals for decision generation.
Even with these improvements, and known problems of the prior art, a need exists for an improved heating system.
Thus, a need exists for an improved heating system.
A need also exists for a heating system that uses microwave energy.
The invention provides an apparatus for a heating system which uses microwave energy and a method thereof.